The weakness that the global supply change has displayed will surely mean changes for the world. As Thomas Friedman has argued, the world has become much flatter in the past few decades. The growing trend of pursuing a first-world living, the globalization of commerce, and the export of certain cultural icons worldwide has had startling implications. But as the global economy, for the first time in decades, begins to shrink, one wonders if this means the end of other trends as well.

Many countries are currently grappling with their own crises, and dealing with growing urges towards protectionism. And, even as the concept of “Buy American” becomes increasingly meaningless when a company headquartered in Japan sells cars in the US that are made in Mexico, nevertheless, countries around the world are looking for ways to salvage the debris left from reliance on exports. Countries like Germany, Japan, or China have seen their economies go in the toilet thanks to an abrupt cessation of importing by countries like the United States. Many pundits in Asia are hoping that the notoriously thrifty Chinese will suddenly engage in a rush of buying—enough to dig the Chinese economy out of its current hole. But of course, in order to dig out their own economy, the Chinese will have to “Buy Chinese.”

This is not to say that large multinational firms who design in one country, produce in another, and sell in a third will disappear. Far from it, in search of cheaper sources of labor and new markets, this trend will only accelerate. However, simply put, countries will increasingly look towards ideas of supply chain stability. Stability that is, perhaps, easiest (if not best) to be found by keeping things close to home.